The present invention generally relates to door locking and operating mechanisms, such as to door locking and operating mechanisms which are often employed in prisons. The invention more specifically relates to a door locking and operating mechanism which can readily be configured for use with a right or left-handed door.
Typically, door locking and operating mechanisms, such as those which are often employed in prisons, are xe2x80x9chanded,xe2x80x9d meaning that a given mechanism is configured to work either with a door which opens to the left (a xe2x80x9cleft-handed doorxe2x80x9d) or with a door which opens to the right (a xe2x80x9cright-handed doorxe2x80x9d). Specifically, a typical door locking and operating mechanism consists of several individual components, some of which are xe2x80x9chanded.xe2x80x9d In other words, a xe2x80x9cleft-handedxe2x80x9d mechanism (a door locking and operating mechanism which is designed for use with a left-handed door) has parts which generally cannot be readily used in a xe2x80x9cright-handedxe2x80x9d mechanism (a door locking and operating mechanism which is designed for use with a right-handed door). Hence, prison maintenance staff, for example, must keep in stock an inventory of xe2x80x9cleft-handedxe2x80x9d parts (for use in a left-handed mechanism) as well as an inventory of xe2x80x9cright-handedxe2x80x9d parts (for use in a right-handed mechanism).
Such xe2x80x9chandedxe2x80x9d mechanisms also generally provide that the parts are generally widespread in the mechanism and that each part must be individually installed into a housing over a door frame. As a result, replacing an entire mechanism is generally tedious and time consuming.
Many of the mechanisms provide that a vertical lock bar locks the door in place. However, the mechanisms also provide that the vertical lock bar can be manually manipulated from the bottom of the vertical lock bar, such as by an object inserted under the door, to lift the vertical lock bar and unlock the door. Of course, in situations where it is important to have strict security, such as in prisons, this is not desirable.
An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a door locking and operating mechanism which is generally xe2x80x9cnon-handedxe2x80x9d in that the mechanism can be employed with a left or right-handed door without having to substitute parts.
Another object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide an easily attachable or detachable self-contained device mechanism plate with selectable handing for use with either left hand or right hand door housings.
Still another object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a door locking and operating mechanism which provides that a vertical lock mechanism cannot generally be manually manipulated from the bottom of the vertical lock bar, such as by an object inserted under the door, to lift the vertical lock bar and unlock the door.
Briefly, and in accordance with at least one of the foregoing objects, the present invention provides a door locking mechanism which includes a lockhead member which includes a door stopping portion. The lockhead member is moveable from a locked position, wherein the door is double deadlocked, and an unlocked position. A vertical locking mechanism is coupled to the lockhead member, and the vertical locking mechanism deadlocks the door when the lockhead member is in the locked position. The door stopping portion of the lockhead member also deadlocks the door when the lockhead member is in the locked position. A carriage assembly is engaged with the door, and the carriage assembly is engageable with the door stopping portion and moves the lockhead member from the locked position to the unlocked position. The vertical locking mechanism disengages the door when the lockhead member is in the unlocked position and the door stopping portion of the lockhead member also disengages the door. A motor is driveably engaged with the carriage assembly. Movement of the carriage assembly causes the carriage assembly to engage the door stopping portion of the lockhead member and move the lockhead member to the unlocked position.